The recent printing security breach of a consumer, business, and credit information service agency, which left approximately 24 million South Africans and 793,749 business entities’ information exposed to suspected fraudsters- brings to light just how easy it is for hackers to get through to any digital system of a business.

Data breaches can cost a company anything between $1.14 million and $1.59 million, according to a report by Quocirca. The report also goes on to mention that COVID-19 and the shift by many companies worldwide to a distributed workforce had a direct effect on the cost of a data breach.

Even though it has almost become expected that a breach will happen, organizations need to continuously keep this top of mind and eliminate or reduce the probability of a possible data breach or cyberattack.

The utmost precision and care are required when dealing with company documents and the main goal of printing securely is to prevent forgery, tampering, or counterfeiting.

When it comes to printing, the entire organization needs to share printing habits that will not put their organization’s security at risk. According to Quocirca, just leaving documents on the printer tray has resulted in the loss of data to many businesses.

Security printing is one solution to this. It is a sensitive field of the printing industry that deals with the printing of items such as banknotes, cheques, passports, tamper-evident labels, security tapes, product authentication, stock certificates, postage stamps Election Ballots; Voter Registration Documents, and DATA as well as identity cards.

Printing solutions expert Lebone Litho Printers has been instrumental in assisting organizations to ensure the safe execution of printing whether digitally or manually. Lebone, which is a managed heavy-duty specialized printing company, has been operating since 2000 and has come across many cases where organizations have dealt a blow and require assistance.

Lebone Litho Printers is one of the few security printing solutions provider in Africa who understand the market and have assisted organizations in African countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Angola, Mozambique, and Mali as well as South Africa

The company has also been instrumental in the procurement of school textbooks as well as Election Materials/ Election Ballots; National and Provincial Examinations and other security printing material. Thus far, more than 65 million school workbooks have been printed securely by Lebone Litho Printers and its consortium partners including other relatively sensitive documentation.

Many organizations including government and private businesses are protecting their lesser-value documents such as transcripts, coupons, and prescription pads by incorporating some security features to ensure that they cannot be forged or that alteration of the data cannot occur undetected.

Consumers around the world are highly informed, expect customizable products, and are more focused on value and brand. Lebone is working to meet differing customer needs and is competing in highly diverse markets as well as increasingly fragmented niche market segments in South Africa.

Businesses need to take a proactive approach to either print securely or find a trusted service provider that can assist in ensuring that any possible hack or forgery of documentation is easily avoidable.  By taking the necessary steps, businesses mitigate risks without compromising productivity.